(ThyBlackMan.com) Everyone wants to live in a safe environment. They want to know their children are able to play without being the victims of violence or without being harassed. We want to live in places whereby our kids can have the access to the best education, and we can have the best jobs possible. Above all things we want to be able to live in peace with our neighbors. It’s comforting when you can know the people around you whereby everyone looks out for each other. Furthermore, if they know you are more so introverted they will look out for you without expecting great amounts of interaction. All of this leads to peace.
It is unfortunate that some black people have taken the position that the only way to achieve the above mentioned is to live amongst white people. It is sad that some of is are not even willing to live in a diverse community, no safety means living amongst white people. This will lead some to believe if they make it to the suburbs they have arrived. They are so much better off now that their children will attend predominately white schools and don’t have to worry about their own kind.
Danger lives in every single community in this country. We can’t discuss black issues without asking each other who told us living amongst each other was dangerous. Truth be told it might be dangerous to the establishment…but it is not the danger we are made to believe. Living among white people does not guarantee peace and harmony. You have to think about the idea of micro aggressive behavior, and possibly being in a space where you are not welcome nor wanted. How is it more peaceful to live amongst hate? How healthy is it for the mental state of our children to try to receive an education in spaces whereby they are scrutinized and unwelcome? Every decision has a price and living amongst white people is no exception.
When black people decide to move back to the “hood”, or a predominately black city why must they justify themselves as if their decision is less than. Those that chose to live amongst their own kind find themselves defending their decision while being spoke to as though they are endangering their family. We can’t discuss black unity if we can’t have black neighbors. Every black neighborhood is not the negative hood stereotypes. There are middle working-class families that live in and raise children peacefully in their all black neighborhoods. They have peace in knowing they are not tolerated, or the police isn’t constantly called for breathing. They can take a walk without being scrutinized.
The first time I had a brick thrown threw my window, was offered drugs, or felt in any way uncomfortable was in a white neighborhood. That sounds very different from what one might expect…but these situations exist. We all have the right to live wherever we like. Move based on your preference but let’s stop furthering the lie that black people can’t live together in peace. Every black neighborhood is not a war zone, and every white neighborhood is not pristine and peaceful. We should not have to justify living where we are comfortable. What other group is made to feel living amongst their own is wrong?
Staff Writer; Adonicka Michele
